A Change of Events
by cyaniic
Summary: Their hatred had always been mutual, or rather Lance had a reason to resent Keith, and Keith just went with it. But why is Lance being so comfortable around him now? Touching, sleeping, and being overall friendly towards him is very alarming...and Keith doesn't know what to think of it, and is forced to dig deeper.
1. Confusion

Tangled legs, his hand weaved into my hair, our heartbeats pressed together, the quiet sound of him breathing next to me.

This is what I awoke to this morning. He crept into my room late last night again without telling me, for the third night in a row, and made his way next to me in my bed. I slowly opened my eyes to the same sight, his chest moving up and down as he slept. I sighed quietly and sat up, maneuvering around his arms which were wrapped around me, and rubbed my head.

"Hey." I said in a raspy voice to try and wake him up. "Hey, Lance." I softly shook his shoulder until he woke up and stared at me for a moment. "You need to get up."

"Ngh…why's that…" He replied, almost whispering, and dug his face deeper into my pillow.

"Because I don't want any of the others to come in here and see you getting all cozy in my bed." I explained to him as I sat up and tried to fix my hair. He only sighed and sat up as well, scratching his head and yawning. He was so animated.

"What d'you think will be for breakfast?" He fully opened his eyes now, and looked at me.

I didn't pay much attention to him as I put my jacket and boots on. "I don't know, probably the same thing as…" Before I could finish, I looked over to the other side of my bed where he was sitting. He was staring at me with that same expression, the one he's been giving me a lot lately. "What is it…?" I felt my face heat up.

Along with that face, he gave a small smile and began to sit up and dress himself as well. "Nothing. We'd better hurry."

"Yeah…" We finished getting ready and began into the hall way, making our way to the kitchen.

He turned to me while we were walking. "Fix your bedhead, Keith." He stopped me and ran his hands through my hair, trying to make me look presentable.

"I-I've got it…" I pushed his hands away and fixed it myself, then quickly walked into the kitchen to eat. His actions this morning gave me a lot to think about over the course of the day. Lance had always acted like he resented me, up until now when he'd been sleeping in my bed at night, which was still bizarre to me, but he had never acted this compassionate or physical with me before. He knows I'm a guy, right? Of course he does, but if he does, then why would he act so…so…

"Keith?" Her words made me jump as Allura tapped my shoulder and got my attention. "Why are you sitting out here all alone?" I had separated from the others to go collect my thoughts on the empty training deck, but I had known someone would come looking for me eventually.

"Nothing, Princess. If you need help with any-"

"No, no. Nothing needs to be done, I was just checking up on all you Paladins today. We don't really have all that much to do, so everybody's taking a well deserved break this morning. And you are…"

"I'm…just thinking." I didn't have much else to say than that. I turned away from her and furrowed my brow, still very confused.

"About what?" She sat down next to me. "If you don't mind, you just look very concentrated on whatever it is."

"Well…" I was hesitant before answering. "Could I get some advice, Allura?"

"Well sure. I'd be glad to help, Keith."

"So…suppose you were in a situation where someone you know, who always acted like they hated you, all of a sudden acted a lot more…comfortable with you. How would you deal with that?" I looked towards her after asking.

"Hmm….that's a tough one. I'd probably have to ask them a few questions on the matter before fully understanding it myself, but after that I'd have to accept it, wouldn't I? I mean if that's how they acted, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's better than having them hate you, right?" She chuckled after giving her response.

"Yeah, you're right." We sat there in silence for a minute. "Thanks, Princess. I've got some business to take care of now." I stood up and jogged to the ship's control room where the others were.

"Lance, could you come here for a second?"


	2. Confrontation

"Uh, d'you need something?" He and all the others turned towards me, I was forced to face the other way as I felt myself blush. This seemed much easier to do in my head.

"Yeah. Just…come here." I said and slowly walked back to my room, hearing him catch up behind me. I opened my door and sat down at the end of my bed.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked me, closing the door behind him and coming to sit beside me. I immediately stood up, which made him look even more confused than before.

" _This_ is what's up, Lance. Where did this come from? What happened to the competing and the arguing and the patronizing? You hate me. What happened all of a sudden?" I couldn't contain what I had been thinking about all day, it all came out at once when I began.

"I…" His face looked drained of all emotion. "I don't know…but Keith I-"

I didn't let him finish. "You what, Lance? You're messing with me? Is this some stupid game to try and see how Keith reacts when you act all buddy-buddy with him all of a sudden?" I couldn't stop. "Well it's _not_ funny! Just go back to ignoring me and hating me again, it'd be better than whatever the hell you're doing now!"

We stayed silent for a moment before I felt the tears start pouring down my face.

"Oh god….dude are you alright? Look I'm-" He stood up abruptly and reached his hands out, wiping the tears from my eyes. "I'm really sorry, ok? I've just felt…different lately. Different when I'm around you. I can't describe it very well…"

"Then try." I tried to sound strong but my voice came out shaky. "I need to know why you're doing this, Lance."

Without a word he leaned down slightly, closed his eyes, and planted a soft kiss on my slightly agape lips.

I felt nothing but shock in that moment. How else was I supposed to react? He stayed there, his lips grazing against mine, for only a few seconds. I stared at him after he pulled away.

"Maybe that will…clear some things up. Look I know we haven't been the best of friends since we met…but all of this has really confused me. Me coming to your bed at night…at first it was only because I heard a weird noise in my room, but after that…I couldn't sleep unless you were next to me."

It took me a minute to comprehend what he was telling me. "But aren't you into girls? You hit on the Princess all the time, Lance. I'm a guy, and I'm not even fully human!"

"I realize that, but thinking about it, it doesn't really matter to me. I like you, Keith." He looked back into my eyes and I stared back, not knowing what to say in return. "You uh…you don't need to give me a response right now." He wiped my eyes one last time and reached down to squeeze my hand. "Just think it over for me.

He let go of my hand and made his way to the door. Before he left, he looked back at me and gave a small smile. I had never seen him act this way towards me before, it scared me, but at the same time I wanted to know what it'd be like if we didn't fight all the time. I sighed and made my way back to my bed, laying down to think for a while, and before I knew it I had fallen asleep.

I awoke to warmth all around me. I should've known that he'd come back to check on me. I opened my eyes to see the same familiar sight, but this time he was smiling down at me with his eyes closed. I couldn't help but grin myself.

"Lance?" I said in a raspy voice, I had no idea how long I had been asleep. "When did you come in here…?"

"Just about 20 minutes ago. You were fast asleep, but I just let myself in. I hope that's okay." He replied with his eyes still closed. It took me a minute to realize that both of his arms were around me, holding me very close to his chest.

"Uh…" I moved around a bit, not able to move much with his grip on me. He took notice of this and began to release me.

"Oh, sorry! If you're not comfortable with contact I can-" I didn't respond, but instead pressed my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes again.

"O-Oh. Okay…" He didn't seem to have a problem with me doing this, but I wasn't all that used to showing this much affection…to anyone.

"Lance."

"Y-Yeah! Yes?" He sounded nervous, it was cute.

"I could get used to this whole…thing. That you proposed." I spoke honestly.

"You could!?" He sat up quickly and looked very concerned after I technically gave him a response to his offer earlier. I sat up and faced him.

"Yeah. I mean, it's very, very new to me, being this…compassionate towards you of all people." His expression dulled. "N-No, I mean, not like that I just…I'll try my best, Lance."

He chuckled before embracing me tightly. "I know. Thanks, Keith. I'll try my best, too." We hugged for a while, mostly because I bet neither of us wanted to pull away.

"Can I…try something?" I was hesitant with this thought, but since we'd be more intimate lately, I had to be more comfortable around him.

"Sure, I guess." He didn't know what I was doing, and neither did I to be honest, but I went for it. I leaned forward and closed the gap between us, and initiated the first kiss I had ever given someone. To be honest I was glad it was him. It was easier than I thought, so I stayed there, my lips on his, until he put his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back so that I was sitting back down in front of him.

"Whoa." He looked both dumbfounded and excited at the same time. "You okay?" It took me a second to feel how hot my face was, and I covered it with my hands.

"Yeah." I replied dully, trying not to sound as embarrassed as I actually was. He moved my hands and cupped my face himself, gazing at me and smiling.

"Y'know, this could work out."


	3. Beginnings

It was almost too much. His face was so close to mine, our lips were moving in unison while his hands made their way from my hair to my back. I couldn't help but let out a few grunts or moans as our movements synced up perfectly. I had never kissed anyone before him so I had no idea if I was doing well or failing miserably. I tried not to think about it as I rested my hands against his shoulders, leaned a bit closer, and deepened the kiss. I never wanted to take my lips off of his.

"Keith!" There was a booming voice and a hard knock outside my door. I jumped at the sound of it, scrambling off of my bed, leaving Lance in a daze. "You in there buddy?" I walked over and opened the door just a crack as to not show that Lance was in my room. Hunk was standing in front of me.

"H-Hey Hunk. What's uh….what's up?" I tried desperately to keep my cool while talking to him, but heard a snicker from behind me which told me I wasn't doing a very good job.

"We need your help down in the control room. Coran says we've got some sort of malfunction again."

"Ok. Yeah, sure. I'll uh…I'll be right out there." I began to close the door and wait for him to leave until he turned towards me again.

"Oh, wait, one more thing. Have you seen Lance anywhere? I checked in his room but he wasn't there."

"Uh, nope. I don't think so. But I'll let you know if I do, goodbye Hunk." I shut the door, leaned against it, and sighed. "Sorry…we'd better go help them out…" Lance stood up from my bed and walked over to the door where I was standing.

"Until we can do this again." He said in a low, quiet voice as he put his arms around my waist. Another moment leaving me stunned, I would need to get used to this. I hesitantly kissed back, sighing against his still warm lips, and brought my hands up to run through his hair. He seemed to enjoy this, because afterwards the kiss became more deep and aggressive. I couldn't keep up very well, so I let him take control. It was like this on and off for at least a minute, before I had to pull away for air. We looked at each other, both of us very out of breath. I wiped my mouth and chin, which were a wet mess, and felt myself blush furiously. He grinned and cleared his throat.

"Let's get going." He opened the door and walked out, I soon followed.

"Y-Yeah…"

It didn't take long to help Coran and the others fix what was broken, so after that all of us went to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I instinctively stuck near Lance the whole time, walking beside him, talking to him only, and eventually taking a seat beside him as we ate. Nobody seemed to notice our sudden change in behavior, and it made me feel a bit more relaxed.

The day went on as usual, we trained for the majority of the day and then got to relax afterwards. Everybody, including myself, was relieved at the thought of taking it easy for a while. Lance has been on my mind all day today, and I'm trying to accept it but it's so strange. It's like all of a sudden we just…grew fonder of each other. I thought he had always hated me, so I responded the same way.

All of these thoughts flooded my mind as I sat, looking out the window at the stars that whizzed by the ship. I had to be alone with my thoughts for a while. Well, that's what I had hoped anyways. As I drifted even farther off, I didn't even hear Lance walk up and sit next to me.

"Whatcha thinking about?" I quickly turned my head towards him, not knowing he was there, with my eyes wide. He laughed when he saw my reaction, I must've looked pretty scared. I smiled slightly and turned back toward the window after I realized it was only him sneaking up on me.

"Hey, don't do that, you really surprised me." I tried not to sound too serious, he'd worry about it and try to pry further if he found out my doubts about us. I wasn't sure if this would last too long, sure I prefer this over him arguing and hating me, but it just didn't seem natural. Of course I never planned on bringing this up with him, I'm just going to wait and see what happens to the both of us.

We sat together and stared out the window into space for a few minutes, he seemed content with it. I was too, only a bit nervous because of how close we were sitting and because he had his hand on mine.

"I have an idea." He said abruptly, still gazing out the window. "Are you in?" I was confused.

"Um, am I in…?"

"Yes. Are you in?"

"Am I in for what?"

"Just answer! Yes or no, are you in?"

"Uh…I guess I'm in…"

As soon as I gave my answer, he looked at me, grabbed my hand, and grinned. "Then let's go." He stood up and started sprinting, leading me behind him.

"Wha-Lance what are we doing!?" I could barely keep up with him.

"Just trust me, this is going to be great!" We eventually reached the escape pods where he began to climb into one. "Well come on, get in here." I hesitated before getting in with him and sitting down. I had no idea what he was planning, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. He started up the pod, opened the air lock, and we sped out of the ship. I looked over at him, smirking while steering the pod out through the stars, and it brought a small smile to my face also. We flew for a couple minutes, until he spoke up.

"Ok. It should be right around here somewhere…"

"What is it?" Was all I asked. I had no idea what else to say to him.

"I asked Coran about any cool space-thingies and he said there was something called a "Rapid-fire Meteor Storm" happening soon. Sooo, I wanted to take you out here to see it. He said it only happens every 40 years or something, but when it does it's _really_ pretty so I had to show you…"

He kept rambling on for a while, smiling the whole time. I loved that about him, some might find it annoying, but to me it meant a lot. He usually thinks of others before himself, but this time it was me. I felt sort of special in that moment, thanks to him. I laughed quietly before he announced something.

"Oh, look, it's about to start!" Just as he said this, a cluster of bright, speeding object came raining out in front of us. I couldn't look away, they glowed a soft turquoise color and disappeared after a few seconds. It didn't even alarm me when he placed his hand softly on top of mine, it comforted me, actually.

"Wow." Is all he muttered to break the long silence.

"Yeah." I agreed with him. We both remained silent until the last meteor faded out. I turned towards him, he was still gazing out at the stars, and I squeezed his hand a bit to get his attention. He looked at me.

"I…uh…I want to talk to you…for a second." I didn't exactly know what I was going to tell him, but I had to let him know what I was thinking lately.

"Yeah, sure…go ahead." He looked a bit concerned, but ready to listen. That made me even more nervous.

"So, this might not make a lot of sense, but all this has got me thinking…both of us in this whole situation. It…really confused me at first. You just started acting so different all of a sudden, and I didn't know how to deal with it at the moment." As I went into detail, Lance furrowed his brow, which told me he was thinking about my words himself. "But now, after tonight and all of this that you've showed me, I think I know how I feel. Lance…you're the only person who's ever shown this much compassion towards me in my life. And…I want to show you the same. Lance, I think…I think I really like you."

The expression on his face shifted slightly, then a blush crept up onto his cheeks. It made me a little happy to see him flustered, but I didn't say this out loud.

"Are you…okay?" He didn't speak, averting his gaze. He was obviously thinking over my words, and I didn't know what he'd say to me.

"You really mean all that…?" He finally looked me in the eyes, and I gave him a small smile for reassurance.

"Yes. I do." All I got from him after that was a sudden, tight embrace. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me towards him. His face buried in the crook of my neck which muffled his words.

"Lv…mph…" I couldn't quite make out what he said.

"Uh, sorry, what'd you say?" He got off of me, put his hands on my shoulders, and looked me in the eyes.

"I said I love you, Keith."


	4. Intimacy

It felt so natural that night, our silent ride back to the ship, with the exception of a few exchanged smiles, us stumbling and laughing like a couple of idiots as we made our way back to his room, and laying down next to each other, gazing into one another's eyes. No words needed to be said, we had already gotten that out of the way earlier, now all that was shared was our body heat.

I could feel his eyes on me, so I looked up at him. Words couldn't describe how amazing he looked, his hair distraught from the events of tonight, his deep brown eyes that glistened as he stared down at me, and the grin plastered on his face was almost funny.

I couldn't help but smile myself. "What is it?" I said in a quiet, raspy voice.

"You're really pretty." That was the last thing I expected him to say.

"Pretty?"

"Yes. Very."

"Guys aren't pretty, Lance."

"Then you're some sort of exception." He reached out and touched my face, he looked more serious now, I blushed.

The events after that were blurry and rushed, he ended up on top of me, leaning in to plant kisses on my face, which made me laugh, but he didn't stop. He moved down to my neck, paused to look up at my confused face, then kept going, rougher this time. He nibbled a spot under my jawline which made my breath hitch. He took this as a signal to keep going, moving down to my collarbone where he kissed it gently, then more aggressive, leaving a mark where his lips were.

"Lance…" was all I could mutter, he looked up and locked eyes with me while slowly lifting up my shirt and reaching his hand under to touch my bare skin. His hands were surprisingly warm, so I leaned into his touch. He left a trail of kisses from my chest down to my navel, leaving me breathing heavily while gazing down at him.

"Keith," I could feel his breath on my stomach. "Can I…keep going?" I averted my eyes and nodded slowly, it was already too late to stop. He didn't say anything after that, he only sat up and began to take his own shirt off while I did the same. It was weird, I wasn't scared in that moment. I trusted him fully, because this was my first time doing something like this with anybody. I'm glad it was him.

After all but our boxers were removed, he got back in the position he was in earlier, hovering inches from my waist. He and slowly began to undress me, then himself. It felt like the room got even hotter than it already was after we were exposed to each other. I couldn't handle it, the way he looked at me as he touched me, the way our warm bodies pressed and practically melted together, and the strong smell of sweat that quickly filled the room. I couldn't help but let out a groan or two, while he was a bit louder. Eventually, when things died down, he collapsed beside me, both of us completely out of breath and gazing at the ceiling. We fell asleep next to each other very soon afterwards, too exhausted to even re-dress ourselves. It was probably the best night's sleep I'd ever had.

I was very sore in the morning, and woke up before he did, so I took a quick shower. I went back to lay down next to him until he eventually woke up with a long sigh. He turned towards me and slowly opened his eyes.

"Morning…" He outstretched his arms over his head, then sat up.

"Good morning. You look like you slept well."

"I did!" He said with a grin, looking over at me. "But…how do you feel? Like…" I knew what he meant.

"Oh, I'm good." I didn't know how else to answer. "Thanks…" There was a minute or two of silence.

"We should…" He began. "Head out for breakfast. The others will be curious if we're not there."

"You're right. Come on." I helped him out of bed, and we both got dressed and headed out to go eat breakfast with the rest of our crew. We hadn't talked about it, but I was pretty sure we'd have to keep _us_ a secret from the rest of _them_. Everyone thinks we hate each other, so that's how we'll have to act so they won't get suspicious and start asking us questions…I'd have to bring this up with Lance later.

It took some effort, but we acted how they though we always did, bickering and arguing over little things, Lance raising his voice at me which almost made me laugh, and it took a whole lot to not sit by him or stand next to him all the time. It was sort of sad…seeing him glance over at me from time to time and smile when no one was watching just to confirm that he was sorry. I don't know if I could do this much longer whenever we go out in public…

It seemed like the longest day of my life, out training with the others, but finally we were dismissed and I made my way back to my room, shutting the door behind me and practically jumping on my bed. I was pretty exhausted. I just laid there for a bit, until I heard a small knock at my door.

"Hey, open up." I recognized his voice and got up instantly to open the door. He smiled down at me when he saw my face.

"Were you sleeping?"

"No. Not yet anyways. What's up?"

"Well…Hunk and I are going out to look for some sort of special fuel for the ship's navigation? Or something like that…and I don't know when I'll be back" I was silent.

"I uh…just wanted to let you know. You'll be asleep when I get back…and-" I cut him off.

"It's alright, Lance, I'll be alright. Just…hurry, okay?" I didn't want him to leave, obviously, but it wasn't my place to make him stay.

"Alright, thanks. I'll see you later, then." He reached down and put his finger under my chin, pulling me up to him. He was so warm, I immediately melted into him and closed my eyes. We embraced slowly.

"Lance! You comin'?" I quickly pushed him off of me and we straightened ourselves out before Hunk came around the corner.

"Yea! I'll be right there!" He turned back towards me. "Sorry…wait for me." And with that, he turned and sprinted down the hallway, leaving me standing in my doorway. I slowly closed the door and fell back on my bed, groaning in the process. I didn't want to have to hide this from the others…but with our past relations, we'd probably either get made fun of or they wouldn't believe us. I didn't know what to do.

I tried not to think about it as I gradually drifted off into a deep sleep.


	5. Regrets

As morning came, I didn't feel the familiar presence of warmth surrounding my body like very other night when Lance was beside me. I awoke, slowly sitting up and rubbing my eyes. It was way too silent in my room, no talking between us, no laughing at his terrible jokes, not even the almost silent sound of him breathing as he slept soundly next to me. I realize that this was only one night that we were apart, but it seemed like everything but natural for him to be somewhere else besides next to me.

I forced myself to look as normal as possible as I got dressed and headed out to see where all the others were. They didn't suspect or ask anything, so I assumed I was putting on a good act. But seeing Lance standing next to all of them made me want to sprint right over to him. I had to resist, though, for both of our sakes. He looked over at me and gave me a smirk, one of those classic ones he gives Allura or any other girl he finds remotely cute. Even though it was cliché, it still made me laugh quietly. I shook my head then soon returned to the blank expression I had been wearing.

Allura informed us that we needed to go out and assist a planet near us. She said it was urgent, so we all rushed to get our gear on and get to our lions. This was the first real mission we've had in a while, everything has been sort of calm lately. I'm not used to having to rush like this, but I didn't really have a choice. All of us dealt with it fairly smooth, we aided an alien civilization torn apart when Zarkon passed by them. All of the struggling really took the feelings off of my mind for a while.

"Need a hand, Keith?" Hunk flew over to me in his lion.

"Yeah. Take this rubble over to the nearest town. We need it to help rebuild their town."

"Sure thing." This went on for a little while, until eventually the citizens thanked us greatly and we began to head back to the ship. Allura also praised us for our work, but she told us we weren't done.

"The ship needs a bit more fuel if we're going to be jumping back and forth through wormholes like this again. I just got another distress signal from a galaxy not too far from this one. We have to head over there as soon as we refuel."

Shiro stepped in, "We need two of you to go and retrieve the fuel while the rest of us ready the tanks." I was about to volunteer when Coran spoke up first.

"We need one of you to accompany the princess. She must go along to be the one to harvest the fuel. You'll need someone of Altean blood to be successful."

"Well in that case," Lance stepped over next to the princess. "I guess I can tag along~" He smiled at her, and she replied with the same scoff as usual. This was common.

What wasn't common was how I reacted. I looked away, unconsciously, and sighed loudly. Louder than I had ever hoped to be, because afterwards everyone looked over at me and their smiles turned to confused expressions. I had to recover from this somehow.

"Classic…" I had used this line before, but maybe it'd work on them again. The silence made me even more nervous.

"Haha, right?" Hunk, thankfully, chimed in. I felt extremely relieved. They all conversed for a while, until it was finally decided that Lance and Allura were going. Before they boarded a pod to retrieve the fuel from some distant planet, Lance grinned at me. I couldn't bring myself to smile back, even when he looked some what hurt and flew out of my sight.

I had never thought of myself as the jealous type, but I might be forced to think again. Even if he does hit on Allura constantly, I had never taken it seriously…maybe this was just an act to avoid suspicion. I really hoped it was. But the thought still remained that he might not be acting. I winced internally at that thought, but kept my outside expression as blank as before.

"So I guess we just wait now, huh? D'you think they'll actually get some?" Pidge, asked, gesturing towards Hunk. The three of us sat together as we waited.

"Well I hope so, we have to aid to the guys who sent us that signal. They'd better hurry."

"Yeah…they'd better." I couldn't stop myself. No one said anything for a minute, it was a very uncomfortable silence. "For the ship." I had to say something to clarify, they all probably suspected something by now. Lance would probably freak out if I let anything slip.

"Hey Keith…can I ask you somethin'?" Pidge looked towards me.

"Sure. What…what is it?"

"I mean, I don't want to sound nosy or anything, but did something happen between you and Lance? You both seem kind of…"

"Odd?" Hunk must've been thinking about it too.

"Yeah. Odd. You're both not as cruel to each other as you usually are." I had to think carefully about a response before speaking.

"I haven't really noticed a difference. He hasn't had a reason to yell at me or anything, maybe he realized I'm not the huge jerk he thinks I am."

"Maybe…I don't know." Silence again. "You seemed pretty ticked when Lance wanted to go with the princess. I just thought it was weird."

I wanted the conversation to be over. "No need to worry or anything. I'm sure Lance would let you both know if something was wrong."

It seemed like a longer time than it actually was before Lance and Allura came back. They successfully retrieved the fuel, and it didn't take that long to refuel and head off again. Today had me tired out by the time we finished everything and I got to head back to my bedroom. As desperate as I was for Lance last night, it seemed now I just wanted some alone time.

I pulled my Galra dagger out from under my bed and started sharpening it. I did this whenever I needed to think. Well, I was, before there was a knock at my door.

"Who is it?" I didn't sit up as I waited for a response. "Who's there?" Nothing. I stood up and walked over, opening the door slowly before it was thrown open. It caught me off guard when he barged in, I stumbled backwards as Lance quickly pushed my up against the wall, gazing down at me.

"Hey there, K-augh!" I didn't have time to think before instinct took in and I ducked out from underneath him, pinned his arms behind his back, and raised my dagger to his throat.

He let out a small, surprised noise. It took a while for me to register that it was Lance who had barged into my room. I slowly let go of him and dropped my blade. It clanged against the hard floor as I fell back onto my bed. He stayed standing, frozen, with his back to me, before also registering what had just happened.

"Dude. What was that?" He sounded really concerned.

"I-I don't know, you scared me and…" He rubbed his neck where my blade grazed it and looked down at me. I couldn't keep eye contact with him for long. He almost looked disappointed or…betrayed.

"Did you not know it was me…?"

"No…I didn't. Look you can't just barge in, alright? I don't want that to happen to you again. He took a seat next to me after closing the door.

"Is…everything ok with you? Today you seemed kinda weird when we went on that mission…I don't know…"

"Everything's fine, Lance. I'm just…exhausted after today."

I could tell he didn't exactly believe me, but he didn't want to pry any further I guess. "Alright then, let's get some re-"

"I think you should go to your room tonight, Lance." I sounded angry. I wasn't angry at him, I was just confused.

"W-Why? Are you sure you're-"

"I'm. Fine. Now go…please." He hesitated and then looked over at me with that damned expression that I hate so much. I felt like I hurt him. I honestly didn't mean to, but my thoughts were so jumbled, the words came out harsh.

"Okay, Keith. I'll…be across the hall. If you need me." I didn't respond, I only looked away as he softly shut the door and left. What was wrong with me? No apologies, no sympathy, and no regard to his feelings. But I didn't move, I only laid on my bed and regretted before the warm stream of tears came gushing from my swollen eyes.


	6. Understanding

I had more nightmares than I could count before I woke up in a cold sweat. I didn't know if it was because of him or not, but I couldn't get much sleep. I crept silently out of my room and slowly shut the door. I was about to make my way into the kitchen, but I was stopped before I could start walking. His door was open and I couldn't help but peer inside. I furrowed my brow. He was sound asleep, sprawled out across his bed and had his mouth open. It took all that I had not to smile and walk over to crawl up beside him, so I dashed over, shut his door, and sighed deeply.

The kitchen light was on, but I didn't care. I poured myself what was some sort of Altean coffee. If I wasn't going to sleep tonight then I might as well try and get some energy in me. Images of Lance still plagued my mind and I scowled. I shouldn't have a reason to be mad at him, he didn't even do anything to me, but somehow I couldn't control my feelings. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even see Shiro standing in the kitchen.

"What are you doing up so late?" He made me jump when he spoke. I looked over at him, he was smiling but looked pretty concerned. I looked back down at my cup.

"Couldn't sleep." Is all I replied with. There was a silence before he sat down at the counter.

"You look like something's bothering you. Care to tell?" I couldn't keep anything from him. If I was going to trust anybody with this secret, It'd have to be Shiro. I didn't say anything as I pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

"Lance and I have been…well we're like, you know, it's sort of like-" I was cut off.

"I think I get it. You two _have_ been pretty different, and I've had my assumptions, but I wasn't completely sure." He knew exactly what I was trying to say.

"Yeah." I couldn't look him in the eyes. "And, well, lately it's been…bad. I don't think I'm treating him all that well. You see we got into this argument today, and I yelled at him. It made me feel…pretty bad. But he probably felt way worse. I don't know what to do, Shiro. I really like him and…oh god, maybe he hates me now. Maybe we're-"

"Ok. First off, calm down a bit." He placed his hand on my shoulder. I sighed. "If you know Lance, and I'm pretty sure you do, then you also know that he forgives very easily. He's probably just waiting for you to tell him the truth."

I didn't know how to respond to him. My eyes began to water. I never show this much emotion, what is wrong with me? "I just…I…"

"Keith." He had a firm yet somehow soft look on his face as he told me, "It's going to be fine."

After our conversation, which got me feeling just a bit more confident, we both headed back to our rooms. I could always count on him to give the right advice in times like these. I went back to my room, and was about to open my door, but I looked back at the closed door behind me. I bet Lance doesn't even want to see me right now. Plus he's probably asleep anyways, and I don't want to upset him even more by waking him up just to try and apologize.

But I just couldn't go to bed thinking about what I did to him.

I opened the door as silently as possible and crept into his room. He was still asleep, of course, but in a completely different position as I last saw him. I smiled, but didn't know what to do after I went over to his bed. It took me a minute, but I knew he wouldn't be mad at me if I acted daring every once in a while. I reached down and framed his sleeping face in my hands as I planted a soft kiss on his forehead. This was apparently enough to wake him up a bit.

"Huh…oh, hey Keith…" He said in a half asleep voice as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. His hair was distraught and stuck up in some places. It was kind of adorable, but I didn't tell him I thought that. "Wait, wha-Keith?" His eyes shot open and he reached out to grab me. "Are you…are you, like, okay?"

"Well, yeah. That's why I came in here. I kind of owe you an apology for…earlier." I kept eye contact with him as I told him what I should've said much earlier in the night. "I yelled at you because I was emotional, not because you did anything to upset me. I'm really, really sorry, Lance." There was a silence. He didn't say anything but instead pushed me down on his bed and embraced me in an uncomfortably tight hug.

"You don't need to apologize!" He said into my ear. "I totally get it. You need your space, or whatever and that's fine. Just, you know, tell me next time and I'll understand." How does a person like him exist? No yelling, no backlashes, he didn't even blame me. I wrapped my arms around him too and we stayed like that for a while before eventually sitting up to face each other again, although he never let go of my hand.

"Can I…um…can I just stay here…? For the rest of the night?" I didn't want to go back to my room.

"Sure! Yeah, of course!" I knew he'd say yes. "Are you tired at all? It is kinda late…?

"Well I had some coffee earlier, so not really. But if you are then we can go to bed."

"Nope. We're staying up, then." I covered my mouth as I laughed, then stopped because I noticed he was staring at me.

"Uh…what?" I felt my face heat up.

"I've never heard you laugh like that before…" I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was being serious. "Do it again." He said, even more firm.

"What? No…"

"Come on. Just for a second."

"No way, Lance."

"Ugh, fine. You made me do this." He swiftly pushed me down onto his bed to where I was lying on my back.

"Lance what the-" He reached his hands under my shirt and began poking at my sides. "H-Hey! Stop tha-" I couldn't hold it in and began laughing again, a lot louder than before. Damn him and his long, cold fingers. How did he know I was ticklish? I sure as hell never told him.

"Aha, so you _are_ ticklish! Perfect!" I was out of breath and could barely speak as he continued to poke at my stomach.

"L-Lance! You're-pffhahaha! You're dead!" I tried to push him off of me, but fell off of his bed instead. We paused before he snickered at me.

"Nice going, _Kogane_." He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me back up.

"Thank you, _McClain_." I laid down beside him, still panting, and we both gazed at the ceiling. Well, I gazed up, but it took me a while to realize that he was gazing at me. I couldn't have been a pretty sight in that moment. I was sweaty and tired, but he still looked at me like I was the most gorgeous person he had ever seen. I looked over at him, no words were said, but he pulled me in and pressed his warm lips against mine.

I closed my eyes. He tasted sweet, a taste I never wanted to forget. Our lips moved together perfectly and I sighed against him as he pulled our bodies closer. We pulled apart after a minute or two and I never noticed how red his face got when we kissed.

"Lance." I said softer than I intended. It was really late now, at least 4 am, and I was starting to get tired.

"What is it?" He replied with the same softness in his voice as he tucked my hair behind my ears, just as he knew I liked. I leaned closer to him.

"I love you so much."

He hugged me tightly, and I hugged him back, then he leaned down and whispered into my ear in a low voice,

"I love you too, Keith." It sent chills down my spine. I had accepted that Lance, this handsome idiot, was the first and hopefully the only person I'd ever love.

I hope every morning would be like this from now on. Waking up to his arms around me, morning kisses, and tiredly walking out into the kitchen for breakfast.

"How do you want your eggs? Or…whatever these egg-like things are." He grabbed a pan from the cupboards.

"Uh…scrambled, if that's possible. I haven't had those since I was, like, 6."

"Got it, babe. I'll try my best." I watched him cook. He looked really happy, and declined when I asked if I could help him. I just went with it until he eventually finished and we sat down to eat together.

"I wonder if any of the others are up yet." He said as he took a bite of his food.

"Well, I've been up for a while." A voice came from the lounge. We both turned our heads in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Pidge. She was sitting down with her computer in her lap. It looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"How uh…how long have you been up, Pidge…?" Lance looked nervous.

"Didn't go to sleep. Not last night either. You two are cute, by the way." She smirked and looked at Lance, who was bright red.

"Thanks, Pidge." I smiled too, which alarmed Lance even more. I began eating.

"What…does she…" He was at a loss for words. "Does she know?" He said quieter.

"Who cares? But yeah, she does, and so does Shiro."

"Keith!"

"What?" I said, and laughed. "Wipe your face, nerd." He looked surprised, but calmed down after a while. I didn't care if the others found out. The ones who did know didn't seem to mind, and the others would probably react the same way, which calmed my nerves a little.

"C'mon, Keith, hurry up. We said we'd hit the training deck this morning."

"Alright, alright. I'm done. Let's go." He grabbed my hand and we sprinted towards the deck, passing Hunk on the way there.

"Hey Hunk!" Lance greeted him as we raced by, still hand in hand. Hunk laughed and greeted us back. We arrived at the deck and Lance insisted on training for as long as he could, which was not his brightest idea. We were both out of breath at the end of it, and sat back to rest for a while.

"Should we go get cleaned up? I want to go back to my room and take a shower." I desperately needed one after this.

"Hmm…I think there are showers here in the training area, aren't there?"

"Well, yeah, but we have our own in-"

"No, no. I'd rather use _these_ showers instead. Wouldn't you?"

It took me a minute to register what he was trying to say. "I mean if you want t-" I paused. "Oh. _Oh_. Y-Yeah! These…these showers are better anyways so-" He didn't let me finish before we stumbled over to the shower room.

Lance is the most careless and stupid person I've ever met, and I'm just as stupid for falling for him. But I don't regret a moment of this amazing change of events.


End file.
